Bush May Free 200 Prisoners At Gitmo

This Week's Ruling Has U.s. Officials Racing To Give Detainees Access To The Judicial Process.

July 1, 2004|By E.A. Torriero Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO -- Under pressure from the Supreme Court and foreign allies, the Bush administration is considering a plan to release as many as 200 terrorism prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who the United States deems may no longer be a major threat.

The Pentagon is also pushing for a military judicial body -- separate from a just-announced military tribunal -- to be formed at Guantanamo that would give prisoners a chance to challenge their detention, attorneys for some of them said.

Those are among options being deliberated in Pentagon circles after a Supreme Court ruling this week that has left the administration scrambling to give Guantanamo detainees access to lawyers and a makeshift judicial system.

No decisions have been made, administration officials said. But releasing up to a third of about 600 prisoners held without due process would lessen the load as U.S. officials try to evaluate their cases. It would put the administration on the defensive, however, to explain why prisoners were held so long without determining the merits of their detention.

Attorney General John Ashcroft said the administration is evaluating the court's ruling "in terms of making sure that we adjust, or modify what we do, so that we accommodate the requirements as expressed by the Supreme Court."

Dozens of attorneys from around the globe are demanding access to prisoners since the court ruling, and many say the government is ill-prepared to handle the expected caseload.

"The point is that there is no rule of law," said Joshua Dratel, a New York attorney who is representing Australian David Hicks, who is scheduled to be tried in the coming months by a five-member military tribunal. "Making this up as we go along is not the way to handle this."

But Ashcroft emphasized that the high court's ruling has "accorded to terrorists, in a variety of cases this week, a number of additional rights."